impossibility of true worship of God
Editorial introduction
How shall I call upon Thee, and how shall I not? The Báb lets both questions stand in one breath: every supplication falls back upon the soul that offered it, and yet the heart, enraptured with love, cannot stay silent. Reason says make no mention of Him, for He is sanctified above all remembrance; love says speak. Worship lives in that tension. The Essence of God cannot be praised as it deserves by any creature kneaded from limitation and need, and the Writings go so far as to call even the cry of ‘Hallowed art Thou’ a venture to describe the indescribable. Still the servant worships through the watches of the night, as the mind’s failure becomes the honest shape of devotion. Pseudo-Dionysius carries praise past both affirmation and denial in his own Christian account of transcendence, a discipline worth setting beside these confessions without merging the two [1]. What remains possible is recognition rather than comprehension: God is known through His signs, His revealed Word and the qualities shown forth in His Manifestations, and a prayer can be sincere without pretending to be complete. The path from here leads into the unknowability of God, the limits of the intellect, and the living state of prayer where humility turns into love.
O my God! How shall I call upon Thee, when the utmost end of my supplication returns unto my own soul, plaintive over the vile deeds I have wrought? And how shall I not call upon Thee, when my heart hath been ever enraptured with Thy love, unable to endure Thy separation, to be silent from communion with Thee, or to remain far from the seats of Thy nearness?
How can I make mention of Thee after realizing that any remembrance of aught else but Thee befitteth not Thy presence? And how can I fail to make mention of Thee when I find within my heart the love of Thy beauty? Reason saith: Make no mention of Him, for He hath ever been sanctified above the remembrance of all beings and exalted beyond the recognition of all creatures.
I love Thee and worship Thee though I have neither the power nor the knowledge to do so as befitteth Thee. Glorified and exalted art Thou! Thy Reality is sanctified and Thine Identity is exalted above being known by anyone through anything save Thine Own Essence, and mighty is Thine Identity.
I know not by what path I may worship Thee. If I fear contemplating Thy justice, my hope in Thy grace attracts me. If I hope to resemble the children of Thy eternality, I would be destroyed by the assurance of Thy origination and omnipotence. I know not by what means I may worship Thee or by what way I may know Thee.
Here I stand in this station, confessing my powerlessness and shortcoming. I have not known Thee as Thou makest Thyself known to me, nor have I worshipped Thee as Thou callest me to worship Thee.
Thou art He who cannot be glorified by any praise from Thy loved ones. Thou art He who cannot be lauded by any tribute from Thy chosen ones. Thou art He who cannot be found through any expression of unity from Thy pure ones. Thou art He who cannot be magnified by any exaltation from Thy trusted ones.
… For how could this be possible for the servant when the clay of his existence hath been kneaded with the water of limitation and need, and his essence hath been mixed with the signs of impotence and brokenness?
… Therefore, O my God, I worship Thee in the watches of the night and the ends of the day, though I am certain that my worship befitteth not Thy holy court, nor is it possible that Thou shouldst be worshipped as Thou deservest to be worshipped through any of the manifestations of Thy creation.
How can I move my lips in remembrance of Thee when I know that my remembrance and my existence are as nothing in the presence of the manifestations of Thy sovereign might and nonexistent before the revelations of Thy holy eternity?
How then can my remembrance ascend to the heaven of Thy oneness and rise to the atmosphere of the glory of Thy mercy and Thy favors?
I verily confess unto Thee, in this supreme ordeal and most exalted extremity, that I have not truly glorified Thee, nor can I ever glorify Thee, and I have not praised Thee, nor can I ever extol Thee. Rather, according to this my wretchedness and poverty, have I glorified Thee, being well assured that it befitteth not Thy sacred threshold, and acknowledging that it is unworthy of Thy sovereign justice.
O my God! Through our disobedience to Thy command, I have fled from Thee unto Thee and taken refuge in Thy Self with Thee. I bear witness that I acknowledge Thy greatness and Thy justice, and I approached not my desires save through what Thy decree hath made felicitous for me - not through denial of Thy sovereignty nor through permission of what Thy Lordship hath forbidden.
None hath worshipped Him in a manner befitting His holy Essence. Every being that hath desired to love His Essence hath been rejected before God and all creation, for it hath sought the impossible.
Glorified and exalted art Thou! When Thou didst manifest Thyself to all contingent things through the appearance of Thy creation, essences took on their essential nature by Thy command, and thus they described Thee in ways incapable of knowing Thine Essence. Glorified art Thou, O my God! Had they known Thee, they would not have described Thee, and thus, O my God, they have not unified Thee.
For as it is in itself, none can know its reality, nor describe its eternity, nor characterize its absolute independence, since all else came into being in the realm of possibility through creation and were endowed with existence in the station of being through invention.
Know thou that in Sufi exegesis it is affirmed, with respect to the Unseen Esence [ghayb-i huwiyyat] in the station of Primal Oneness, that all names are far from the shore of Its Sanctity and It is known without Name or Attribute. For the Names of the Absolute are the reflections of [Its] Attributes and the Attributes of the Absolute in that station of Primal Oneness are the same as its Essence without a trace of difference or distinction -- it is even as that King of the Court of Knowledge and Wisdom and that Monarch of the Kingdom of Divine Guidance, His Holiness 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (unto him be greetings and praise) has stated: "Perfect belief in Divine Unity consists in the denial of all His Attributes."
In brief, it is certain that that Ancient Being dwells in the retreat of transcendence and the treasury of inaccessibility, established upon the throne of sanctification and abstraction. Entry and exit, ascent and descent have no place in that station. After this subtle point is established, it becomes clear to every person of insight that neither does the obedience of created things add to His glory, nor does the disobedience of existing beings detract from His majesty.
Never can the deeds of the finite reach the court of the Eternal, nor can the stain of the transient soil the hem of His everlasting glory.
How then can one who has no way to comprehend the essence of knowing Thine eternity possibly worship Thee? Glorified art Thou above this, and exalted art Thou beyond that! All worship Thee according to what Thou hast created in them of the likeness of Thy creation, and all unite in Thy oneness through what Thou hast deposited within them of the signs of Thy handiwork.
O my God! How can I describe Thee, after knowing that description is forbidden before Thy presence? How can I make mention of Thee, after being assured that mention is cut off from Thy court? How can I characterize Thee, after the way of attributes is barred from Thy countenance? How can I praise Thee, after praise is negated from Thy direction? How can I call upon Thee with hope after Thou hast removed me from Thy nearness?
By the glory of Thy Essence, I have never claimed to unify Thy reality, nor to know Thy Essence, nor to praise Thy Being, nor to glorify Thy Self, nor to extol Thy Reality. Rather, from the day Thou didst create me, I have declared Thee sanctified above all allusions to Thy holy court, and even detachment, though a form of praise, falls short. Yet by Thy glory, I seek naught but utter negation in the face of Thy revelation.
While all draw nigh unto Thee through their love for Thee, I draw nigh unto Thee through my acknowledgment that I do not truly love Thee, for this is impossible for anyone. Had I found the way and discovered the proof, by Thy glory, I would have been the first of interpreters. But after recognizing my limitations and observing the nothingness of my existence, how can I clothe falsehood in truth or vest the contingent with the Absolute?
Glorified is He! I bear witness that there is no God but Him, as He is, without any being able to know how He is, though I know my very existence is pure sin before Him - how then could my testimony of Him be worthy? Existence itself is steeped in sin and cannot indicate God. So glory be to God, though I know all paths are cut off; praise be to God, though I recognize all ways are blocked; God is Most Great, though I witness the impossibility of all records.
The One named by the name "God" is that Essence which all worship through the names wherewith He hath described His Self. Whoso associateth with Him a name or attribute hath indeed joined partners with Him, hath not worshipped Him, and is an unbeliever.
Whoso worshippeth God through any of His attributes or names hath disbelieved in Him and hath worshipped naught. And whoso turneth unto Him through any of His servants hath not turned unto Him, and the face of His might veils him from beholding His countenance.
All worship Thee, yet none worshippeth Thee as beseemeth Thy due. Indeed this utterance of mine is raised up to Thee through the Dawning-Place of Thy Self, where all worship Thee according to what Thou hast revealed in the Bayan.
Thou art He Who maketh me know Thyself in every condition - that Thou canst not be known except through Thyself, nor described save by Thee, nor truly worshipped in Thine Essential Reality, nor praised in the Being of Thine Eternity, lest I be veiled in any condition from the station of nearness to Thee, nor in any decree from the station of knowing Thy signs.
I told him, "We are not omniscient - none knoweth the unseen save Him - but a rational person can deduce certain matters.
O my God! The nearest of Thy signs to my soul is my own soul, and my soul's inability to know its own true essence is among the most self-evident facts to my soul. … Therefore I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy signs and the effulgence of Thy grace and Thy mercy and Thy guidance, to expand my breast through knowledge of Thy signs in Thy Book and in Thy earth and Thy heaven, and especially the Seven Oft-repeated Verses and the Great Qur'an.
Some worship Thee for what Thou givest them; some ask Thee for the needs they desire; some abandon the world and sever themselves from its pleasures, yet forsake Thy good-pleasure in the world to come; some obey Thee out of fear; some worship Thee out of love; some affirm Thy unity because Thy oneness is nobler than all things; and some remember Thee because Thy remembrance is more manifest than every remembrance.
Glorified art Thou above desiring that there be ascribed unto Thee one who worshippeth Thee not, boweth not down before Thee, confesseth not Thy oneness, submitteth not to the dominion of Thy unity, or humbleth not himself before the kingship of Thy sanctified oneness. Exalted art Thou above accepting the name of Islam -- or those numbered therein -- as related unto Thee after their hands have wrought what they have wrought; though by that attribution they bear the burden of their own deeds.
Therefore, O my God, I make mention of Thee in the way Thou lovest, and I thank Thee in the way that pleaseth Thee, and I bear witness that the ultimate extent of my remembrance of Thee is my inability to remember Thee, and that the utmost of my effort in thanking Thee is my poverty in offering thanks unto Thee. I know no other way for myself, nor can I bring forth any proof thereof, save that I behold Thee through Thine own eyes and declare: Thou art, Thou art my Beloved; Thou art, Thou art my Worshipped One; Thou art, Thou art my Quest; Thou art, Thou art my Sovereign; Thou art, Thou art my King; Thou art, Thou art my Possessor; Thou art, Thou art the Ultimate Goal of my hopes.
I know not how to call upon Thee or remember Thee, for whenever I remember Thee among the congregation, the limit of contingent being frightens me in my heart, and whenever I worship Thee in solitude, the ultimate bound of creation rebukes me openly, saying that the servant can never know Thee and Thou canst not be described by him. Thou canst never be worshipped as Thou deserves to be worshipped, and none knoweth how Thou art except Thee alone.
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
It must not be one of the things before which it is, and you are not to call it Intellect; not even the Good, then: no, not even this if 'the Good' means one of all things; but if it means that which is before all things, let the name stand.
...godlike Minds ... can find no more fitting method to celebrate its praises than to deny It every manner of Attribute.
At the level of the contingent world, true worship is realized for those who worship God through Him and submerge themselves in the Sea of Absolute Unity. For in that Sea, the worshipper and the words of worship are annihilated, and thus there remaineth naught for the worshipper but the very revelation of God and the pure Countenance of the Beloved.... He who worshippeth God through any one but Him, by gazing at his own self as the Worshipper and at God as the Object of his worship, hath joined partners with God and hath never worshipped Him. (The Bab, provisional translation,
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